The Two-Way

12:40 pm

Wed December 28, 2011

There Will Be No Friday This Week In Samoa

Samoa: Would you argue with getting an extra day in a place like this?

D. Kirkland/Samoa Tourist AuthorityAP

What's happening in Samoa on Friday?

Nothing (sort of).

Officially, the day won't exist.

As Eyder previewed back in May, the tiny island nation in the South Pacific has decided to move from one side of the very near International Dateline to the other.

People in Samoa (population 193,000) want to be closer time-wise to Australia, New Zealand, China and Tonga because they do so much more day-to-day business with those relatively nearby nations than with the rest of the world. And the problem until now, for example, has been that when it's 8 a.m. Monday in Samoa it's 8 a.m. Tuesday in Tonga. Business people in Samoa have kind of been losing a working day when it comes to dealing with their nearest neighbors.

Samoa has been on the eastern side of the dateline since 1892,The Australian notes, "following lobbying by merchants who did most of their business with America and Europe. ... The world has changed. Australia and New Zealand provide half the country's imports and buy 85 per cent of Samoa's exports."